Court, Llanychaer

SM989357 OS 25” 2nd edition X.5 Llanllawer

Listed Grade II* house, Grade II coach-house and farm buildings. Considered for the Cadw Register but rejected.

1770 Farm owned by Thomas Williams of Pope Hill, Haverfordwest and his wife Anne (nee Warren, a co-heiress) and leased to Griffiths Gwynne of Cilciffeth. 1784 Lease assigned to William Gwynne, brother of the above. 1799 Sold to John Gwynne (a relation?), a lawyer of Haverfordwest who built the present mansion. The Gwynnes came from Brynaeron, Llandissilio and Plas y meibon, Llangolman. A Griffiths Gwynne had married Elizabeth, daughter of John Thomas of Cilciffeth and Lettice Vaughan of Vorlan who was descended from the Vaughans of Pontfaen. Court land was originally part of the Trewern estate.

1847 A map is said to have been produced (where is it?)

1874/75 The last of the Gwynnes (two maiden ladies) died and the property was left to the Rev. Thomas Gwynne Mortimer (whose mother was a Gwynne) After taking holy orders he was a curate in Oxfordshire but was anxious to return to Pembrokeshire. He approached Hugh Charles Owen (“of Goodwick”), the son of Sir Hugh Owen of Llanstinan who obtained for him the rectorship of Castlebythe. There was no rectory there and he lived at Court despite the distances involved. He is said to have brought back fig cuttings from the Holyland and planted them in the walled gardens at Court and at Trenewydd where they thrived. He resigned in 1899. (FJ “A Pembrokeshire Squarson” – Pemb. Hist. 1974. 1903 The Rev Mortimer died and left the property to his kinsman Mortimer Thomas (see Yorke family of Langton).

1944 Estate for sale It appears that not much was actually sold. (See sale notice of 10th August 1944 of the Court estate of 1,228 acres by John Francis and Son at the Commercial hotel, Fishguard. A modest document with no map. Court itself is Lot 10. 211 acres. The mansion was part-occupied by the farmer tenant. It is described as delightfully situate in surroundings of exceptional beauty. The outbuildings include a coach-house and stable with loft over and a lodge at the drive entrance.)

1955 Sale Particulars (John Francis) PRO D/RPT/misc/3/20. 2

Particulars of Sale of the remaining portions of the Court Estate: Country Residence and Farm of Court (140acres) and woodland (71 acres) Trellwynfawr (125acres). Both these vacant possession. Trenewydd (183acres) tenanted Penmynydd (145acres) tenanted Tresissilltfach (70acres) in Llanwnda parish At Fishguard 3rd November 1955 Note: Court comprises a soundly built Residence of old world character consisting of: Drawing room, Dining room, Kitchen, Servants Hall, four Bedrooms and a Bathroom. The Farmhouse portion contains Parlour, Kithen and Table room, Dairy, three Bedrooms and a Store. It is separately occupied but both parts can be joined together. Farm buildings include Out-kitchen with loft over. The cottage of Court Lodge is in the occupation of Mrs Francis; it is included in the sale. There seems to be no mention of the cornhouse and mill. 1956 Sold to a local farmer who lived in the decaying house to an advanced age.

(Western Telegraph 21st November 2001: County Wills Evan John Evans of Court Farm, Llanychaer, Fishguard, who died on April 12th, left estate valued at £1,024,101 gross, £1,021,694 net. He left his estate to relatives. Probate has been granted to his nephew, Gwyn Rees of Trellwyn Bungalow, Dinas Cross and solicitor David Jones of Preseli Chambers, 11a High Street, Fishguard.)

Court mansion lies on the northern slope of the Gwaun valley opposite the small village of Llanychaer.

Visits 1999 (GH and KBH) and 16th November 2001 (GH, KBH and DE)

The minor road heading north crosses the river on a stone arched bridge, curves right and then left to the point from which the carriage drive and a track eastwards along the river bank start. It then takes a sharp left hand turn and climbs steeply for perhaps 200m before turning right and continuing up the slope northwards. Several hundred metres further it passes the disused church of Llanllawer on the left with its holy well covered by a stone barrel vault. On the right a more or less level track crosses a field to the farm and house site.

On the left of the carriage drive entrance, before the gateway, is the ruined lodge. Most of the stone walls survive to eaves level. It is roughly square in plan. The fire places are central and so one assumes that the roof was pyramidal. Above the window on each side of the door is a flat arch of dressed sandstone. A rectangular courtyard or garden has been carved out of the rock face behind.

(8.4.2006 The lodge has been rebuilt and whitewashed; work is still underway. Land in front – ie on the opposite side of the drive has been bulldozed level)

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The gate piers survive largely intact. They are of circular plan, more than a metre in diameter, built of small brick-sized stones. A vertical slab is inserted on the gate side into which the iron gate furniture is attached. This type of gateway seems to have been quite common in north Pembrokeshire; it is seen also at Llwyngwair. The riverside track diverges at a small angle before the gateway; on the river side are two large lime trees.

The drive climbs gently to the east. It has been hewn out of the rocks to the left side and there is a drop to the right behind a low, neatly built, stone wall. Oak and beech dominate the woodland here. After several hundred metres there is a hairpin bend to the left and a gateway, similar to the one described, leading into a lane going on down to the riverside track. The slope is steeper with a precipious fall to the left, some larger trees-mostly beech and sessile oak- and at about 200m turns northward up a gentle slope to the level mansion site where the drive passes through another gateway. Here the piers are made of larger dressed stones with a squarer section. On top is a low square plinth topped by a pyramid- shaped stone.

On the right hand side is a large lawn with the front of the Georgian mansion facing west across it. The lawn has now overgrown the turning “circle” and the continuation of the drive is only indicated by the wheel ruts. The maps show three trees which are now all dead. The northernmost tree, we were told, died some years ago and has been felled; an attempt has been made to remove the base. The other two died, quite suddenly and completely, in different, recent years. GH believes them to have been cedars of some sort but this is open to question.

The drive continued straight ahead into the farm area. The farm and the walled garden are contiguous with the house and although the house and its approach are rather splendid and designed to impress visitors the property was, possibly from the start, a working farm. For some time (we are told) the house was divided and two rates were paid. A farm manager is assumed to have occupied the northern third or so of the house. A door on the north side opens into a farm courtyard with the usual assortment of small buildings and other structures screened from the view of visitors to the house and farm proper. Behind this area is the walled kitchen garden.

The walled kitchen garden is square and about one acre. It was built of rubblestone, some of the stones large, to nearly 3m. I height. Coping is impossible to discern as much of the wall is in poor condition with ivy and sycamore growing along its length. Most of the south wall has fallen inwards some of it surviving the impact. The west wall abuts the farm courtyard and the coach-house. The east end of the north wall has totally collapsed. There are pedestrian entrances near the house end of the south wall (blocked up), in the 4 centre of the west wall (into the farm court) and towards the south end of the east wall. The garden itself is a forest of sycamore with a rookery

Behind (ie to the east of) the mansion was an informal garden dense with rhododendron, laurel and later sycamore. It was not explored. (Continuing along the overgrown drive with a hedgebank on the left) the substantial corn mill is straight ahead. It is very high and beautifully constructed of semi-dressed stone. The wheel was fed from a stream and pool up the bank behind and the water then flowed into the pond on the left. This is now silted up. It was edged with stone and an ornamental island marked on the OS map is still there. The axle of the mill wheel remains.

On the slope behind the farm buildings the bases of two (of several shown on the map) stone hay/straw racks can be seen.

Documents in file:

Word text Cadw Listings of house, coach-house and farm buildings OS 25” second edition map Sale Brochure 1944 Western Telegraph cutting 21st November 2001 2 colour photographs of mansion and buildings c 1999 (Mrs Anne Eastham) 2 ditto Llanllawer church (GH 1999) 4 ditto Llanychaer churchyard (GH 1999) (Poor) ditto Trenewydd (1930’s Mrs Anne Eastham) 18 ditto Court (GH 2001)

( conversations with Mr and Mrs Eastham and with Mr Gwyn Rees and his son)

See Francis Jones A Pembrokeshire Squarson The Pembrokeshire Historian No 5 1974